About Me Elsewhere:
resume:
JasonDoucette.com
video game:
Duality ZF
company:
Xona.com
myspace.com:
MySpace
facebook:
Facebook
Having a Healthy Disregard for the Impossible:
This is quoted from
Larry Page, a co-founder of Google. He explains, in '
The
Google Story':
"
Optimism is important. You have to be a little silly about the goals you are going to set. There is a phrase I learned in college
called, 'having a healthy disregard for the impossible.' That is a really good phrase. You should try to do things that most people
would not do."
The limits you set in your mind manifest themselves in reality. There is real truth to the phrase "
you can do anything you set your
mind to." Perhaps it is easiest to understand it in terms of negativity. The negative outlooks people have on their likelihood of
succeeding are powerful. The mind will actively seek out and find reasons to fail to satisfy the limits it believes to be true. Your
brain will go to great lengths to defend its creations. An example is the attempt to convince yourself that you are wrong; most have
extreme difficulty admitting mistakes. This is a very powerful realization: You can gain immense power
merely by placing effort
to remove the foolish limitations you have set for yourself. So, take care in what you let your mind believe.
I am involved in a graphics technology project. It is research intensive, and largely theoretical. A decent portion is uncertain
because it has never been done. I choose to believe it is possible, which means that if it fails, it will be because
I failed.
Notice the onus is on
me. There is no one or nothing else to blame. Compare this attitude to someone who says the problem is
unsolvable, since no one has done it, yet. They accept no responsibility for their failure, just as most people have no
'responsibility for self'. They have already imposed a limit, and given up. During times of difficultly, they have a grand excuse as
to why the work is not being done -- because "it's impossible." They
will never succeed. How could they
possibly
succeed without any effort? That is why you have to be silly about your goals. It is the only way you can properly test to see if
they are feasible. Also, since these poor souls have convinced the mind that any effort would be futile, they have effectively shut
off any
unconscious energy the brain would normally devote to working on the problem. I have solved numerous problems while
'away' from conscious effort. You will never know your true self until you make an effort to push the limits of your potential. It is
sad to realize most people will never know themselves because they are their own worst enemy.
"
Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you."
- Frank Tyger
Software Engineer / Developer:
"
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
- Edsger Dijkstra
You wouldn't believe the number of people who think I actually enjoy the physical act of sitting down in front of a monitor and
depressing keys. The computer is nothing more than a tool that I use to express my creativity and solve extremely complicated
problems. I do not like pounding away at keys. I like being creative and solving problems. People seem to misunderstand that the
keyboard / monitor are merely an interface to this incredible tool. It is a tool that most people are ignorant towards because its
results appear intangible.
A junior high school teacher discovered our (
my brother and I's) interest in 'computers'.
After school, he gave us a sheet of data that had to be labouriously typed into a computer database. Seriously. I was wondering and
waiting to see if he was going to show us something fun. To my dismay, it never occurred. He
actually thought we enjoyed
sitting down and typing sheets of data into a computer like a mindless drone...
Meanwhile, at home, at the same age of 13, without access to the Internet (it was 1988), graphics books, or references, I invented the
3D formula that allows 3D graphics on a 2D screen to be possible, invented
bilinear texture mapping by re-working this equation (the same texturing
method used in
Doom in 1993), and created the same
pseudo-3D road
engine (which was a better algorithm than the available PC racers of the time:
Test Drive) which was the primary foundation for my final year project at Acadia University (in 1999).
Actions and Motivation:
People say talk is cheap, and that actions speak louder than words. Of course, this is true. You can say one thing, and convince
others and yourself all you want, but your actions show the real deal. But, it shows more than what most people think.
People's
actions show where their motivations lie.
Yes, people will hide their true motives, and tell you a different story for a number of reasons, usually to entice you to follow suit
with their desires. Likely, you would not follow suit if the true motives were revealed. But, searching deep into these persuasive
minds will likely show that these people actually believe their desires and motivations for controlling others are legitimate. They
are not conniving individuals scheming an evil plan. They truly believe, themselves, they are doing the 'right thing'. It is why they
are so convincing.
It should not surprise you that people can do things and
not know why they did them. Ask any kid who has performed a bad act,
"Why?" He is unlikely to be able to formulate a reasonable sentence explaining the cause. This is partially due to his inability to
put thoughts into words, but more likely, and much more importantly, it is because he simply
does not know. The brain does a
lot of stuff without conscience thought. (When was the last time you
thought about walking? Realize you can program this
subconscious, and thus make it better, so you will never be that kid under the interrogation light at a loss for words.)
I digress. Back to the main point: People actually believe their motives are different than the true motives. This may exist because
they have convinced themselves otherwise, but it is more likely because they simply do not know what their true desires are. The
desires of humans can be quite astonishing at times. Wouldn't it be nice to know what they really were? Well, there is a simple hint
at what the truth is -- and I am
all about searching for the truth -- it lies in that
a person's action is indicative of
their motivations.
You can convince me all you want that your desires are whatever your wildest dreams are and whatever you have convinced yourself, and
you can show me all of the evidence that supports this, and you may not even be lying, you may even believe in all of this yourself
when you go to bed at night and it is just you and your brain... but... your actions tell
the truth. Look at your actions.
What you do is what you want to do. You just learned something about yourself. We are a lot more robotic than we think. It is
called the subconscious.
This notion should not be used merely for the evaluation of others, although it may help you decide who you wish to surround yourself
with, which is quite important if you hope to continue positive growth in yourself, but it should be used to initiate change in the
only thing you have power to change... yourself. Look at your actions and give yourself a hard, honest self-evaluation test and
realize what you are all about. Your actions are a clear indication of the truth. You are what you do. If you do not like the
self-evaluation -- and you probably won't to some degree (if not, you are not being honest enough) -- commence the change. Remember that
tomorrow never comes, so the change must start now.
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